Click here to sign the Change.org petition
End BNSF railroad’s dependence on hauling and burning fossil fuels. Partner with Gov. Inslee to electrify, increase track speeds, and run your trains on 100% renewable energy from Seattle to Chicago.
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Where progressive voices can be heard
Click here to sign the Change.org petition
End BNSF railroad’s dependence on hauling and burning fossil fuels. Partner with Gov. Inslee to electrify, increase track speeds, and run your trains on 100% renewable energy from Seattle to Chicago.
The Buffett Legacy Project is our moral appeal to multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, owner of BNSF. We launched a petition on Sunday and released a series of video letters asking that Buffett: (full letter below)
“End BNSF railroad’s dependence on hauling and burning fossil fuels. Partner with Gov. Inslee to electrify BNSF, increase track speeds, and run your trains on 100% renewable energy from Seattle to Chicago.”
This “Ask” is backed up with our companion Solutionary Rail project, our policy proposal to shift the economics of rail to make it an engine for sustainable transport and renewable energy rather than an accelerator for climate and environmental catastrophe. The Solutionary Rail proposal is being created by a dedicated team from around the country which has been meeting since last October. Patrick Mazza and I outlined the Solutionary Rail proposal on Diane Horn’s Sustainability Segment on KEXP last Saturday. (Listen here).
Feeling adventurous? If you create your own respectful-yet-strong moral appeal to Mr. Buffett, we’ll add it to the campaign.
Sign onto this letter to Warren Buffett via http://BuffettLegacy.org petition:
Dear Mr. Buffett,
Please, stop “hedging your bets” with investments in further use offossil fuels that are guaranteed to harm the climate and the well beingof future generations. Your railroad, BNSF’s reliance on shipping coaland oil is not sustainable for your company, your workers, or theplanet. These fuels are causing climate disruption, oceanacidification, damaging public health, and endangering the environmentsand cultural inheritance of the communities they move through.
As the owner, you have the capacity to break the BNSF’s and the railroadindustry’s addiction to the consumption and transport of fossil fuels. You alone have the power to transform the role and impact of railroadsfrom being part of the problem to being a pivotal component of thesolution.
As you have pointed out, transportation by rail is 3-4 times more energyefficient than by truck. Electrification of the railroad would multiplythat efficiency again by 3. Investment in modernization of rail lineswill deliver higher speeds, which will draw high value freight off oftrucks on our overburdened highways and make intercity passenger servicemore attractive. Electrified rail can run on zero emissions energy fromwind, sun and other renewable sources. It is even possible for yourrailroad’s right-of-way to serve as a highly efficient HVDC transmissioncorridor for clean, renewable energy.
We call this vision Solutionary Rail. We urge you to work with Governor Jay Inslee and other regional leadersmake the Northern Transcon part of the solution for future generations. Implement the Solutionary Rail model to create a backbone forsustainable transport and renewable energy infrastructure in the regionthrough which BNSF roles. Establish your legacy as the benevolentbillionaire who had the wisdom to invest in the pivot to a sustainablefuture.
Respectfully,
Signer… (YOU!)
For more on this topic, visit http://solutionaryrail.org/, a project of Backbone Campaign.
Backbone Campaign marked this historic weekend by being out in the streets in Seattle and New York City as well as at the Protect the Sacred rally at the US/Canada border. We used this pivotal moment to launch two new fronts in our campaign to save our beautiful Pacific NW home-bioregion Cascadia and the Salish Sea from becoming a fossil fuel corridor to Asia. I was honored to be able to address the crowd about these projects at the Seattle rally Sunday.
Rising Tide Seattle along with participants who attended Backbone Campaign’s Localize This! Action Camp launched a technical blockade action early this morning effectively halting both Oil and Coal Trains!!
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The reckless and rapid expansion of fossil fuel transport through the Pacific Northwest poses an unprecedented threat to this natural treasure and the safety of our communities.
Natives and non-natives are uniting to meet this threat with beautiful resistance…
To roll back these perilous misdeeds we need a vibrant movement that stirs our hearts, stokes our spirits, compels us to take meaningful action to protect what we love and reminds us of our responsibility to fight for the world our children deserve.
An immensely important aspect of the work is to honor, highlight, and support the leadership exemplified by those who have been careful stewards to this beautiful land for centuries before the exploitation and extraction of it ensued.
Backbone strategically designed our 6th annual Localize This! action camp to practice and model the good approach to alliance building that Backbone Campaign and our collaborators have been engaged in. At this year’s Localize This! we went to school on how to be good allies with Natives.
The passionate activists who attend camp gift us with making their vocation the pursuit of the societal transformation we long for. We can’t also ask them to bear all the cost of producing camp. If you want the people fighting for your values to have the tools and tactics they need, then pitch in today to help us cover the costs of the northwest’s artful activism action camp. |
Practicing good allyship with Natives at Localize This! 2014 Action Camp:
We invited our friend and Idle No More WA organizer Sweetwater Nannauck, a wonderful bridge-builder among Natives and non-natives, to facilitate and organize a Native Day at camp. In addition to the usual phenomenal workshops provided at camp, participants took part in workshops on Anti-Oppression, Historical Trauma Healing, Spiritual Activism, How To Work Well With Natives, Ritual and Ceremony and more.
Together we sought to better understand the experience and culture of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest and begin healing some of our shared historical trauma and feelings of guilt and grief.
The camp concluded with the camp participants and community members supporting a Native-led action in a spirit of service and solidarity. The action and focus of camp provided an immensely meaningful experience that many have longed for.
The “Protect Our Salish Sea“ final action included:
Help us carry this work forward and ensure we can continue to make Localize This! a unique resource to our movement by Contributing Today!
BREAKING: First Washington State Tree Sit Since 1999!
Chiara D’Angelo blockades environmental destruction on Bainbridge Island
Contact: 206-940-5082 or 425-495-5320
10060 High School Rd NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
**UPDATED 10:32am** NOW VIDEO FOR DOWNLOAD HERE. ​Images for download HERE & HERE
Visconsi has just threatened to press charges if she doesn’t come down by 4pm today (8/18) – she plans on staying indefinitely.
VIGIL AT 5PM-8PM TODAY (Monday 8/18) look for red banner on left road down PROBuild’s drive way past their green and white sign at 10060 High School Dr, across the street (NORTH) of McDonalds enterance.
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – Bainbridge High School graduate Chiara Rose D’Angelo is sitting 70 feet up on a platform among the canopy of an evergreen. The tree is one of 830 approved to be clear-cut for the KeyBank/Visconsi Mall where a Walgreens, among others, is expected to be built. Chiara is demanding a halt to the project and looking to raise awareness about the environmental devastation setting the stage for our future. She is calling citizens to send 830 letters and post cards to Key Bank in opposition to the development – one for each tree cut.
“The tree sit is an effort designed to create more time for the community of Bainbridge to move into action and voice their opposition to this unsustainable development. There will be an ongoing presence at the site as well as a letter writing campaign and sign ons for boycotting the mall. I am hoping this sit leads to expanded dialog about what we want this Island to look like in our future.”
Chiara’s roots are here on Bainbridge. Her Grandfather Art Patricio was a Ferry Boat captain for 50 years. Her grandmother Lora Hart worked at Streamliner Diner to raise her children. Chiara was raised by her mother on the island.
A formal boycott has been initiated and is growing in size as residents express their intention to never do business in the new shopping center.
According to Kent Bridwell, Lead boycott organizer “A new shopping center is wholly unnecessary on Bainbridge. Too many local businesses have already failed and there are vacant storefronts everywhere. This includes the former Union Bank building, which remains available for lease or purchase.”
Saturday, August 16th, Chiara, accompanied by 80 residents of all ages,spokeat an on site vigil to acknowledge the loss that will occur from thisproject.Now Chiara sits in a tree to hold space for more community action andsupport.
“The ‘expedited approval and development’ that Visconsi, an Ohio based developer, brags about on there website, seems to be manifesting itself onto the Island. Bainbridge has the potential to serve as a healthy watershed, helping to preserve the Puget Sound. For the well being of the Sound, and future generations, we need to turn the tide on the status quo by bringing a halt to this unwanted and unneeded development,” says Chiara.
Please support Chiara’s efforts and send your letter to Key Bank’s Chairperson and CEO: Beth Mooney, Chairperson and CEO; KeyCorp; 127 PublicSquare; Cleveland, OH44114-1306
Call at 800-625-3256
And sign the pledge at
http://environmentalbainbridge.org/stop-unwanted-development-on-bi/
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email: info@backbonecampaign.org
web: http://backbonecampaign.org/
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For Immediate Release:
Drawing on the revolutionary spirit of Independence Day, DemocracyMovement organizers arecalling for a week of creative, artful rebellion against the corrupting influence of money in politics. In the week of July 4th to July 12th activists around the country will stage rebellious actions to showcase a movement ready to overthrow corporate rule and reclaim the promise of government of, by, and for We the People. “We are fighting for the very self-evident, endowed by creator, unalienable rights celebrated on this anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” said Bill Moyer, Executive Director of the Backbone Campaign. “Those long ago affirmed rights and principles are incompatible with the corrosive ideas of corporate personhood and the subsequent rights being claimed for corporations, investors, and capital itself. The result isthat we are reducing everything and everybody else to commodities,including our planet, our democracy, and life itself. The RollingRebellion is calling for nothing less than a non-violent, second American Revolution against oligarchic power and the corporations that that oligarchy hide behind,” concluded Moyer. Four years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen’s United brought down the barriers to corporations buying American elections, a strong and broad based movement has emerged to challenge oligarchic rule. And as the influence of big money and corporate power grows, with April’s McCutcheon V. FEC ruling continuing to dismantle limits on campaign spending, the creativity, resolve and ranks of the Democracy Movement are growing as well. The “Rolling Rebellion For Real Democracy” plans to use creative tactics like street theater,puppetry and light projection to showcase the breadth and diversity of this movement. From New Hampshire to Seattle activists are planning events to showcase the national movement and advance local campaigns. “Our movement is diverse, but we all agree that a crisis of Democracy is atthe root of our problems and it’s time to solve it,” said Kevin Zeese,an organizer with Popular Resistance. “Inspired by America’s pre-revolutionary roots we recognize both the need to protest rule of the wealthy and to create real democratic alternatives from the ground up,” added Margaret Flowers, also with Popular Resistance. In Denver, Colorado activists armed with prop torches and pitchforks will converge on the State Capitol to drive out “Corporate Persons” in a display of popular revolt. Activists in Lexington Kentucky will march from the Estate of Henry Clay to the Estate of Mary Todd, giving public readings of the Declaration of Independence and Amendments to the U.S.Constitution, and holding a teach-in about efforts to Amend the constitution to declare that Corporations do not have the same rights as people. Seattle, Washington activists will stage a street performance and procession featuring giant puppets of a “Corporoctopus” and Lady Liberty. Organized by WAmend, Washington’s Move to Amend Chapter, the event will kick off the next phase of the campaign to pass a ballot initiative directing the Washington Congressional Delegation to work towards a constitutional amendment declaring that Corporations do no thave the same rights as people. For full report backs on actions happening around the country visit www.rollingrebellion.org or contact ahmed@backbonecampaign.org.High quality photos will be available upon request.
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The NW Action Camp Localize This! returns for it’s 6th year August 5th-11th.
After 6 years Localize This! Action Camp has proven to be a tremendous resource to progressive movements and social change agents from across the country Register TODAY and join passionate activists and organizers at the Northwest cross-movement artful activism and creative organizing intensive, Localize This! Action Camp. If you can’t make camp, support the organizers who can by contributing to the scholarship fund- HERE.
For the past five years this gathering has been at the cusp of movement innovation, a source of numerous collaborations, and a spark for countless creative actions from viral Flash Mobs to Giant flying buttocks. Our giant 1% arrows banner and light projections preceded Occupy.Previous year’s camps lifted up Eviction Protection in the Seattle area and now our allies are celebrating a victorious Eviction Blockade. Our first camp helped save an island!
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Rebellion Is a Muscle that Must Be Exercised!
IF you treasure the self-evident, endowed by creator, unalienable rights which the Declaration of Independence celebrated and promised this new country would uphold;
IF you adhor corporations claiming those unalienable rights as “corporate persons” and think billionaires manipulating elections with their wealth is corrupting our democracy to the core;
THEN you probably agree that it is time to tap into the United States’ revolutionary roots and in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence instigate a nonviolent American Revolution against oligarchic rule.
All across America, from New Hampshire to California, We the People are beginning to rise up in an autonomous, nonviolent, and rolling rebellion for real democracy. The Backbone Campaign, Popular Resistance, and other allies have created Rolling Rebellion for Real Democracy with an action map and activist toolkits to bolster this burgeoning US Democracy Movement.
From July 4th – July 12th, we are supporting a series of non-violent, artfully rebellious events around the country to get money out of politics, showcase the emergent US Democracy Movement, and spur on its escalating fight for real democracy. Check our action map to join a Rolling Rebellion action near you, or sign up to host your own.
Here’s a great article about our Rolling Rebellion project with our key collaborator Popular Resistance.
Rebellion is a muscle that must be exercised!
It is time to arm and train the nonviolent warriors of our time.
Bill Moyer’s 10-10-13 statement regarding “Political Calculus” and the crisis of legitimacy for our government. This was delivered on the US Court House in Seattle, WA on the day the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on McCutcheon VS the FEC.
Backbone HQ 4-03-14:
Once again, we have been betrayed by our “highest court” and I am forced to ask, what is so “supreme” about this so-called Supreme Court? How could an institution deserve such a title when it is aggressively undermining checks and balances – not just between branches of government, but between the oligarchic few and the increasingly indentured many?
The “Supreme” Court and US “representative democracy” are in a deepcrisis of legitimacy.
The injury of Citizens United vs FEC has now been compounded by the insult of McCutcheon VS the FEC. McCutcheon VS the FEC turns our Federal elections into an auction by removing limits on contributions to candidates in Federal elections. It will allow the most wealthy to spend freely to thrust their minions into Federal office. This along with their decisions on Citizens United and the Voting Rights Act…confirm that our current system in not merely broken, but “fixed.” It is fixed to concentrate power and wealth amongst the few at the expense and exclusion of the many.
Incrementalism has proven a failure in even slowing down the abandonment of our original Social Contract based upon the paradigm of sacred”unalienable rights” of Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness expressed in our original revolutionary Declaration. The evolving expression of those sacred, “endowed by creator” rights articulated as human rights, community rights, and rights of nature are under siege globally.National and global aspirations for that paradigm are being crushed by the paradigm of Commodification. The paradigm of Commodification is propelled by fear and scarcity and finds expression in the cynical inventions of “corporate rights,””investor rights,” and the rights of capital itself – the idol that blesses the commodification of everything and everyone.
It is time for a new social contract. The Constitution has failed to live up to the promises of the Declaration of Independence. We must support those who building momentum for that movement. The WAMends of this country, nationally inspired and by the Move to Amend coalition are providing a foundation for a movement for a new social contract. But this is much more than a philosophical struggle – this is a paradigmatic battle fought on every front of collusion between corporate and elected power.
Arm the Rebels!
Backbone Campaign is providing tactical tools and capacity to the moral warriors across America through trainings and material support. Join us today! Become part of our network of Action Brigades by attending an Action Camp. Help us arm the nonviolent rebels to help them boldly hold the higher moral ground and inspire a populism that is based on the best in humans rather than the worst, a revolution grounded in LOVE and Abundance.
Defend what you Love – Fight for your Aspirations. We can either acceptour creative inalienable role as co-authors of the future or choosevictimhood andbetray that which is sacred in and around us. This is a spiritualbattle in which Love Must Win!
Forward Together!
Bill Moyer & Team Backbone
Join us today!
There is a looming public health crisis fueled by short-sighted greed of the factory farm industry.
Yet, vigilance is needed to compel Seattle City Council to take the right action.
Two million Americans are suffering from antibiotic resistant infectionsevery year, but here in Seattle, we are taking the first big step to endthe industry greed fueling this public health crisis.
Join our friends at Food & Water Watch and grassroots activistsTOMORROW to reaffirm the need for action.
Attend tomorrow night’s dinner to connect with others demandingmeaningful action to ban misuse of antibiotics.
Preserving Antibiotics: A Public Health Imperative Free Dinner.
On April 1st, our friends at Food and Water Watch are teaming up with the UW Medical Center to host a forum and free organic dinner titled Preserving Antibiotics: A Public Health Imperative. This comes the same day that the City Council will consider a resolution calling to ban misuse of antibiotics on factory farms. The anticipated announcement should happen at this event, and we need as many people there as possible. Informative, free dinner, and exciting announcements! Register before the end of the day to attend. |
Tomorrow, Seattle City Council will vote to protect public health. Despite the obvious logic of this sensible reform, there is industry opposition(check it out http://tinyurl.com/mo2ehzr) Which makes it extremely important that we have a big crowd and have our testimonies heard. If you are planning on testifying: Please show up 10-15 minutes early to sign up! There is limited time on the agenda for public comment, and people will be there to testify on other issues as well, so we need to make sure we get our voice in there. Everybody: Wear RED to signify STOPPING antibiotic misuse! We will probably have press there, and we want to have a great visual of all the people that are calling for action here in Seattle! What: City Council Hearing on Resolution for Ban of Antibiotic Misuse in Factory Farms When: TOMORROW, April 1st, 2:00pm Where: City Hall, 600 4th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Council Chambers Who: YOU, IN RED, to make history to protect public health |
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